Mad Men draws 100,000 for Sky Atlantic

The Mad Men season five premiere drew an audience of close to 100,000 for Sky Atlantic on Tuesday evening – up 300 per cent on the slot average for the channel. Season four’s first episode, which aired on BBC4 in September 2010, had 355,000 viewers.

The much-hyped US drama, which debuted with a double episode, averaged 98’000 viewers, a 0.4 per cent audience share, between 9pm and 10:50pm.

Mad Men was identified as major selling point for the Sky Atlantic brand when the channel first launched in February 2011, after the show’s rights were snatched from the BBC, but prolonged contract negotiations with its writers and actors saw the AMC produced fifth season’s arrival delayed for nine months.